Citywide Bike to School Initiatives Return for Fall

The Bergen Bike Bus cruises down Bergen Street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. (Photo credit: Lidia Goldberg)

October 2, 2024

This year, 912,094 enrolled K-12 students return to NYC Public Schools, an increase in enrollment compared to the 906,000 students enrolled from 2022–23, according to enrollment data from the city’s Education Department. Hundreds of thousands of these students take public transportation to get to and from school, which can be subject to delays, breakdowns and safety-issues.

Students that commute by public transit are faced with increasing transit costs, where subway rides now cost $2.90 each way, up twenty-five cents from a year ago, and forty-five cents compared to ten years ago, according to MTA data. As a result, alternative methods of transit like cycling, skating, and bike buses, a type of ‘hop on, hop off’ group cycling along a designated route, are popping up in Brooklyn neighborhoods including Greenpoint, Crown Heights, Gowanus and Brownsville.

Cycling to school gained traction through “Bike to School Day,” an NYC DOT initiative that began in 2012 to get kids cycling more. Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit and city watchdog funded by grants and public donations, along with NYC Bike Bus, and are among two of the groups leading the charge.

At PS 110, 10% of the students’ families drive to school. According to an email survey of almost 150 families at the school, many would participate in walk or roll to school events.

Chris Roberti, a Greenpoint, Brooklyn father of two is one of the main organizers for the PS 110 Bike Bus that leaves from McCarren Park.

“We need some kind of communal bike share or matching bikes for families in need,” said Roberti. “You know, growing that culture around that.

Citi Bike, a private bike-share recently partnered with NYC Bike Bus to provide promotional codes to students over the age of 16 who want to participate but do not have access to a bicycle. The Youth Committee at Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group, has also been campaigning for CitiBike to make membership more accessible.

Rise in Road Fatalities Increases Push for Bill

November 5, 2024

This year has been the deadliest year for New York City pedestrians and cyclists, according to Transportation Alternatives, a roadway safety nonprofit.

Traffic accidents have killed over 191 New Yorkers as of September 26th, according to the group. This is an increase of 70% compared to the first six months in 2023, with 35% of these by repeat offenders, according to NYPD data. Now families affected by roadway fatalities and injuries are organizing to pass legislation that would install automatic braking systems into the cars of repeat offenders.

“This rule might not get rid of a person who wants to make an illegal turn, but it will force that person to go more slowly towards an intersection in the first place, so that they have more time to see who’s out there,” said Peter Beadle, 53, a personal injury attorney in Queens.

The Repeat Offenders Bill, if passed, would require drivers with 11 or more points on their license in an 18-month period, or drivers who were caught violating speed limits, to install the Intelligent Speed Assistance device in their vehicle. Like the technology of a car breathalyzer, the device will reduce acceleration if the vehicle exceeds the speed limit. The European Union has mandated this device in all newly sold vehicles, as of July 2024.

“This is a reasonable and rational step to take, because we know that keeping these vehicles from driving as fast as they do reduces the risk of crash and serious injury,” said Beadle.

The bill was proposed by New York State Senator Andrew Gounardes and District 50 Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher. It is currently stuck in the Transportation Committee, the third stage of becoming law. The bill has been endorsed by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Vision Zero network, the National Safety Council and internationally by the Child Health Initiative.

“We’re very optimistic that this is a tried and true and proven approach,” said Thomas DeVito, Director of Families for Safe Streets, a nonprofit advocating for the Repeat Offender Bill.

DeVito said that previous proposals required license and registration suspensions, but this bill would not deny anyone’s means to mobility. Intelligent Speed Assistance devices would make it physically impossible for offenders to travel over the speed limit.

“When [offenders] demonstrate a continuing unwillingness to change their behavior, then we absolutely should be considering at least modifying their privilege of driving,” said Beadle.